Day 5 September 27 - Early Morning • Ganesha Ratha • Krishna's Butter Ball • Descent of the Ganges • Shore Temple • Varaha Cave Temple • Pancha Rathas • Pondicherry • Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple • World Tourism Day
Beer Break After a few hours driving toward Pondicherry we came to Murugan Wines and Bar. This is a beer garden oasis to purchase beer, wine and hard liquor. This was our opportunity to meet and interact with local people. With my Haywards 5000 beer I sat at a table with a group of people and had a delightful conversation. After a few beers it was time to continue our trek toward Pondicherry.
When we arrived in we discovered that Pondicherry was hosting the 2014 World Tourism Festival. Didn’t I tell you that every day is some festival in India? Not knowing what we would find at the festival we decided that we should have a late Pondicherry Lunch so we could enjoy the festival. The World Tourism Festival would be held later at night so we visited the local Pondicherry Market . Outside the market is the Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple
Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Ganesa. The temple is of considerable antiquity and predates French occupation of the territory. There were attempts to destroy the temple but the temple was spared owing to strong protests from the Hindu population and the threat of British and Maratha invasion. In Tamil 'Manal' means sand and 'Kulam' means pond near the sea. So the people called the god, Lord Ganesha, Manal Kulathu Vinayagar [means God near the pond of sand].
Ganesha's elephant head makes him easy to identify. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deity of intellect and wisdom. Located in the temple is an elephant. Not just any Elephant this is a special Elephant. You give the Elephant paper money (I gave him $1) and he bops you on the head with his trunk as a blessing. I did this a few times (anything for a picture and an extra blessing.
Before settling in at our hotel we did a Pondicherry City Tour of the beautifully landscaped city of Pondicherry, designed in French style with Parisian-inspired city plans. Pondicherry is simultaneously a resort destination for beachgoers and an educational center for South India: it boasts 35 colleges and universities, from law schools to technical institutions. Sudhakar took us to the Best Coffee Stand in Pondicherry
Finally we arrived at the Atithi Hotel Pondicherry This charming 3 star hotel in Pondicherry offers 60 rooms and suites. The hotel is also equipped with a multi cuisine restaurant, bar, gym and roof top swimming pool with panoramic views of the city.
World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrated every year on 27 September, is a global observance to highlight tourism’s social, cultural, political and economic value. WTD 2014 has been celebrated around the world under the theme Tourism and Community Development - focusing on the ability of tourism to empower people and provide them with skills to achieve change in their local communities. Starting around 6pm WTD was celebrated in Pondicherry with a parade or more accurately a carnival. There were parades of elephants, dancers, drummers, and all kinds of vehicles. This was an absolutely terrific way of ending one chock full days of discovery in India.
- Southern India